


But Now I See

by Katsuko



Series: Hurt/Comfort Bingo 2012 [16]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Blindness, Community: hc_bingo, F/M, Families of Choice, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-18
Updated: 2012-07-18
Packaged: 2017-11-10 05:00:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/462456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katsuko/pseuds/Katsuko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They'd repaired the damage to his face. They'd told him that the scarring would be minimal thanks to the medical tech that Stark Industries had provided. They wouldn't tell him if he would ever see again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	But Now I See

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [](http://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**hc_bingo**](http://hc-bingo.dreamwidth.org/) , the prompt being "loss of vision."

The accident had been several months ago. The day had ended with just a routine call for the Avengers, with him in his usual spot high above the action to play spotter and provide additional aerial cover when the situation called for it. There was absolutely no indicator that anything would happen to injure any of the team.

And it stayed that way right up until one of the mechanical army knocked one of Hawkeye's explosive arrows right back at him.

Sure, everything was cleaned up quickly and the culprit - a Doctor Doom wannabe - was taken into custody, but Clint had already been removed from the scene via helicopter back to a SHIELD medical facility.

They'd repaired the damage to his face. They'd told him that the scarring would be minimal thanks to the medical tech that Stark Industries had provided. They even told him that his hair would grow back and everything would be just like it was before.

What no one told him was if he would ever see again.

So now he was here, in Tony Stark's very nice penthouse in Avengers Tower and he couldn't enjoy the goddamned view because, oh yeah, he was kind of blind now. If ever there was a more appropriate acronym for this situation, it was FML.

Although... if Clint was being honest with himself, things weren't _too_ terrible despite the whole not being able to see thing.

For one, Pepper was frighteningly efficient at everything she did, whether it was running Stark Industries while Tony was playing Mad Scientist with Bruce down in the lower levels to making sure that all the residents of the tower had whatever they might need. The woman had single-handedly furnished every single bedroom to best suit its inhabitants, and after Clint's accident had added checking up on him to her unofficial duties. It was kind of nice, having someone who would read _The Hunger Games_ to him without smartass commentary and who didn't mind _his_ smartass commentary.

Steve was pretty good about the whole thing, too. He was still adapting to the twenty-first century, sure enough, but he was savvy enough that he already knew how to work the Blu-ray player and had downloaded several music files and ring tones to his Starkphone. Cap had taken to describing the things he'd seen on his walks to Clint, and it almost made him feel like he'd been there at the time rather than hearing about it after the fact.

Tony and Bruce weren't around much, but even that wasn't terrible. The science bros had been spending every moment they weren't assembled - and there had been three calls in the time since Clint was put on medical leave - working relentlessly in the basement labs, running tests and trying to come up with either a cure for their teammate's blindness or a to synthesize a way that he could 'see' in some other manner. Clint, for his part, wasn't even sure it was possible, but he played along whenever they popped in with updates on their progress thus far.

Thor was... well, _Thor_. He was a great guy, really, but he didn't understand that not everything could be fixed with a chunk of rock or a few magic words. Clint could tell that Thor was trying, he really could, but there was only so much he could take of hearing about the childhood exploits of Thor, the Warriors Three, Sif and Loki, especially when sometimes he found himself empathizing with that smarmy little green-eyed bastard.

And speaking of, the smarmy little bastard wasn't really too bad when he was being humane. It should be worrying Clint more that he felt some odd little hint of being cared for when he woke up in the middle of the night about two months after the accident to realize that Loki was in his room. The trickster hadn't spoken at first, just sat on the edge of the bed and apparently watched him. The only thing he'd said at last, just before vanishing - which Clint knew happened because there was a little woof of air shifting, and it was _never_ going to stop being weird that he could pick that up - was a quiet, "If there was anything I could do, you'd already be back on the rooftops."

It was sort of kind, and it was a bit telling that the trouble that the team had had to deal with wasn't caused by the self-proclaimed god of mischief and lies.

Then there was Natasha. In the months since he'd been put out of commission, she had taken fewer jobs that could possibly take her out of Manhattan. She wasn't much of a talker, and never had been, but her presence was soothing in its own right. Tasha spent every moment she could with him, even when Steve or Thor or Tony and Bruce or Pepper was there, occasionally interjecting her thoughts and opinions, and whenever it was just the pair of them she would settle beside him wherever he happened to be seated. She would be just close enough for their sides to touch, and more often lately she would rest her head against his shoulder while talking about SHIELD business and just how many people were _still_ pissed with Fury for lying to them all about Phil; the latest was that Hill had abruptly taken all of her saved-up vacation time, totaling up to three months, flown out to California to make sure that Phil was following the doctor's orders to rest, and that there was a bet on just _how_ the deputy director was going to make sure those orders were followed.

Tasha really was the best; if Clint ever planned on getting married, he was either going to propose to her or ask her to be his best man or convince her to talk him out of the crazy idea in the first place.

He let out a soft sigh and settled more comfortably onto the sofa, listening politely as Tony enthused about his latest findings regarding the possibility of using bionic filaments to replace damaged optical nerves. If it worked, Clint would be more than happy to return to his old-normal routine, but he was staring to get used to being blind. The lack of vision had allowed him to see how great a family he had been thrust into, and he wouldn’t give up a one of them for the world.


End file.
